Mumbai: The all-conquering horse, Be Safe, is on the threshold of making history.  If he wins, the Indian turf Invitation Cup, here, on Sunday, the Holy Roman Emperor son will be the first four-year-old to do so, since the race became a weight for age — without penalties — two years ago, when hosted by the RCTC. The eligibility factor now is four-year-olds and upwards, from four-year-old only. 

The changed terms have definitely given a new lease of life to the Invitation Cup, which was heading for a slow death as, in first 50 years, the Indian Derby winners normally started as favourites and a quite a good number of them also walked away with the prize. The change, in terms, may also help the racing enthusiasts judge the different generations by their performance against the present lot and the past champions.

Be Safe will have been an automatic choice for the trophy, but for some it is not going to be a case of ‘came-saw-and-conquered’ kind of horse, who literally trounced the Indian Derby field, earlier this month. Old timers strongly pitch for the Pesi Shroff-trained wonder filly, Amazing Grace, an easy winner of eight races in a row, including the Indian St Leger.

Old timers insist that the battle lines have been drawn. It is not going to be a one-horse race this time. But again, the Mahalaxmi race crowd has always been suspicious about the ability of the champion horse, right before the time he won the Indian 2,000 Guineas which he claimed easily, despite his long lay off from the track, the Ruia Cup, which is considered as a taboo for the Derby favourites, and finally, the stamina factor to last the Derby distance.

However, every time the Narredus — trainer Malesh and jockey Suraj — had the last laugh, and a loud one.
But MAM Ramaswamy has full faith in his horse. Incidentally, the racing baron is yet to see Be Safe winning any of his race live. He had been watching Be Safe’s videos. For health reasons, he hasn’t been out of Chennai for long, but reliable sources say that he is definitely going to be at the Mahalaxmi, on Sunday, to cheer his champion, who is only two steps away from becoming an all time great. Assuming he wins, and if all goes well with the horse, the year 2016 Invitation Cup, in MAM’s own backyard, Chennai, will earn Be Safe the definitely ‘all-time great’ tag.